It is well recognized that proper drug dosage calculation and administration to a patient is very important. To assist individuals there currently exist drug dosage calculators that provide the correct dosage based on inputted information to the device. The reliability of the calculated dosage using this type of device, however, relies heavily on the user entering in the correct information the first time. Typically, once the information is entered, the dosage is determined and displayed. Since only the resultant dosage is displayed, there is no easy or convenient way of checking either the result or the set-up used to calculate the dosage, without re-entering and re-calculating the drug dosage. The typical advise given for those who use a standard calculator is to: "Double Check" the calculation and/or "Check to see if it is `reasonable`". This type of "checking" is extremely time consuming--and can lead to a variety of types of errors, including systematic errors (involving the input of the same incorrect or misread dosage strength each time) that would not be detected on double checking.
The determination of the proper dosage for a particular patient generally requires a series of calculations which involve various conversions of units. (For example, a pediatric prescription might call for the administration of "5 micrograms of a drug per every kilogram of the child's weight"--when abbreviated: 5 mcg/kg.) If the child's weight was recorded in pounds, then that weight must be converted to kilograms by dividing by 2.205 (since 1 kg=2.205 lb).
Though this type of conversion might seem rather straight forward, the consequence of an arithmetic error in calculating the dosage (for example, by multiplying instead of dividing by 2.205) could have a serious, if not fatal, consequence. In the training of nurses (or less typically, pharmacists and physicians), to do these calculations, a variety of methods are employed to arrive at the correct dosage. Since each method may involve a different strategy, the learning of how to do these drug dosage calculations is often quite difficult, especially for the beginning student. The lack of confidence generated by these difficulties can be carried over into the clinical setting which could lead to medication errors.
Thus, there exist a need for providing both a method and a device for calculating drug dosages wherein the drug dosage calculation results can be easily and quickly checked both for the correct entry information, and in the calculation set-up.
The present invention solves many of the problems discussed above by providing a device which displays not only the correctly calculated drug dosage, but also illustrates the set-up used to determine the drug dosage. In addition, the device can check the administered dosage against the safe dosage ranges. The device also provides a tutorial mode wherein various different techniques can be used for calculating drug dosage.